Deep-well packing



'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LY MAN STEWART, OF TIT-SVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEEPWE'LL PACKING.

SPECIFICATIION'forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,275, dated January 10, 1882.

\ Application filed November l, ISBL- (No model.)

To all lwhom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, LYMAN STEWART, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Titusville, inthe county of Crawford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Deep-Well' packer w-ith the rubber elongated for lowering FiggZis aver-' into or removing from a well. tical section, illustrating tire'form v hich is -as sumed by the rubber when being compressed Fig. 3 shows a modification. tion takenon line x a', Fig. l.

Inl the drawings, A B is theanchor, the part A being, by preference, a section of tubing reaching to the bottom of the well and having the part B, lwhich is usually of greater diameter, connected thereto by means of a reducer. When used for flowing, the part B should bel perforated, as at b.

C is aiiange or coupling screwed tothe upper end of tube B, and is of afdiameter nearly equal to that of the well.

D is a sectionof tubing sliding within the tube B, and provided at its lower end with a i 3 5 flange or collar, d,`whicl'engageswith a cor- Iresponding shoulder formed upon the flange and coupling C, thus constituting a 'telescopicv joint. The upper face of the iiange and coupling C is recessed, so as to form agland around 4o the lower end of tu-belsection D to receive a packing material, which is compressed by a follower, c, which screws into the upper end of the gland.

E F is a rubber annulus, having a` ilange,

H, seated in its upper end, said ilange having an internal thread to receive the upper screwthreaded end of tube-section D, the lower end of the annulus resting. upon theflange-coupling C when the rubber is being compressed.

5o The annulus is provided with two or more external ribs or cut oli's, e j", of rubber, which have in the art to which it appertains to make and by the weight of the upper section of ftubingi' Fig/1 is esecf square shoulders-both above and below, and

which are, by preference, formed integral with the bodyof-the anlrulirs bel'ore it is vulcanized, and-may be made by wrapping a-strip of :rubberaround the annulus. The innerface of the annulus is concave near its lower end', as at Gr,

=for a purposewhichwillsoon be explained.

It will be readly'umlerstood thatafter the anchor A B strikes the bottom ot' the well, and its' further descent istherebyfchecked, the weight ofthe upperscction ofthe tubing, which is continuediby successive lengths to the 'top of thewell, ,will compress theannulus endwise and expand it laterally against'the wallot'the well, and also against the t nbing, if the weight' l be grcatenough, thu-s making it asubstantially solid compact massgf and1 it will be further understood that the expansion of the annulus 'will irstftake piaeeatrthe'rib or shoutder e, as indicated'inl Fig. 2, because-tile rubber i-s thinnest at that point, and hence offers the least 4'resistance tooutward expansion. Should the weight of" the'tubing be sufficient to' forcethe-u pper tu be-secti on dc'w n' tarenongh,l

but my construction possesses marked advan-V tages over that shown in the Fowler and Morgan patent, because their rubber, being the thinnest midway between theends, will be forced against the wall of the well at or near that central point first, and will then, by reason of the adhesion of that central part ot' the rubber to the wall of the well, be compressed above that central point until the weight of the tubing causes that tightly compressed rubber to slide down the face of the rock, thus producing great friction and seriously interfering with pressing that part of the annulus below its center against the wall of the well with suiicient firmness, whereas in my packer that part which is very close to the lower end is first forced against the wall of the well, and is therefore not after Y be further seen that after the rib or cut-oli' e has been pressed against the wall of the well a slight downward movement of that part of the annulus which is encircled by said rib will cause the upper face of the rib in Figs. 1 and 2 to assume a slightly concave or cup-shaped form, and that the same result will be produced after the upper rib or shoulder, j', has been forced against the wall ofthe well, whereby a more effective packing is made than could be produced with an annulus which is cylindrical in form, as by thus cutting off the water the weight of the whole column of water inthe well is brought to bear directly` upon the packling, thereby supplementing the weight of the upper section of tubing in making the packing sufficiently dense where a very light or short string of tubing is used.

In Fig. 3 I have-shown a modified form of packer, which is more'especially adapted for packing against gas-pressure from below, the difference between this structure and that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 being a change in the location in the cut-offs.

It will be noticed that in Figs. 1 and-2 the upper edge of the cut-oli' e is about .opposite the center of the cavity G,'the object in such arrangement being to insure that the upper edgeott iecut-oishallbepressedrmlyagainst the wall of the well soon after the operation of the rubber commences, and that a further and final compression shall not withdraw this upper edge of the cut-olf from the wall of the well.

By changing the position of the cut-off to that shown in Fig. 3 I insure that its lower edge shall be first firmly pressed against the 'wall of the well, and also that a subsequent and further compression shall not withdraw saidlower edge from contact with the wall of the well nor reduce the pressure with which it is forced into that position, thus insuring that it shall effectually resist the passage of gas in an upward direction, as will be readily understood without further explanation.

I am aware that the patent to Fowler and Morgan November 28, 1865, (and others granted since that date,) shows a rubber annulus made thinner near its center than at its ends, in order to facilitate its central part being forced against thc wall of the well with less pressure than would be required if it were not thus concaved internally. Hence I do not claim such construction, broadly; but when this thinnest portion is located about midway between the ends of the annulus the friction of the central part of the annulus against the wall of the well interferes materiallyv with the packing, because more or less of the force exerted by the downward pressure of the upper tube-section is expended in overcoming this friction, instead of forcing the rubber against the rock; hut this objection is obviated by my construction f rom the fact that that part does not descend after it has been forced against the wall. For this reason the weight of the upper section of tubing is much more eiective'in pressing the rubber against the wall in my packer than it is in those heretofore made, this feature being especially valuable in wells in which only a comparatively light weight of tubing can be used. l 4

What I claim is- 1. In a deep-well packing, the combination, with the anchor and the upper sliding tubingsection, of the rubber annulus', concaved,as at G, near its lower end, substantially as set forth.

2. In a deepwell packing, a rubber annulus having an external rib, e, and an internal recess, Gr, opposite thereto, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

-LYMAN STEWART. Witnesses:

J osEPH T. CHASE, MILTON STEWART. 

